Tag Archive | "vintage"

It’s no secret that I enjoy kit reviews – it’s always interesting to see how well a kit goes together, along with the quality of parts, documentation and so on. But what about kits from the past? And not 2003. Recently a very rare opportunity to purchase a sealed Sinclair Radionics Cambridge calculator kit appeared on ebay – so it was ordered rapidly and duly delivered to the office. And thus the subject of this review.

You may be familiar with the Sinclair name – Sir Clive Sinclair introduced many innovative and interesting products to the UK and world markets in his own style. Some were a raging success, such as the ZX-series home computers – and some were not. However in 1973 Sinclair introduced a range of calculators, starting with the “Cambridge”. It’s a simple four-function calculator with an LED numeric display and a somewhat dodgy reputation.

The design evolved rapidly and at the Mark III stage it was sold assembled and as a kit. At the time handheld calculators were quite expensive, so the opportunity to save money and get one in kit form would have been quite appealing to the enthusiast – in January 1974 the kit retailed in the UK for 24.95 (+ VAT):

Assembly

Putting the Cambridge together required a balance of healthy paranoia, patience and woodworker mentality (measure twice – cut once). There wouldn’t be any second chances, or quick runs down to Altronics for a replacement part (well … there was one) so care needed to be taken. If you’re curious about the details, I’ve uploaded 82 full-resolution images from the build, including both instruction manuals and schematic onto flickr. Now to get started.

The kit arrives in a neat, retail-orientated package:

… with the components on one side of the foam:

… and the other side held he assembly guide (underneath which was a very short length of solder and the carrying case):

At this point I was starting to have doubts, and thought it would be better off in storage. But what fun would that be? So out with the knife and the shrink-wrap was gone, revealing the smell of 1974 electronics. Next to whip out the instructions and get started:

They are incredibly detailed, and allow for two variations of enclosure and also offer tips on good construction – as well as the schematic, BOM and so on. Like any kit it’s wise to take stock of the components, which gave us the PCB:

… the passives, diodes and transistor – and some solder wick:

At this point it turned out the all but one of the resistors were anywhere near the specified values in the instructions, and I wasn’t going to trust those electrolytic capacitors after 39 years. The replacement parts were in stock – including the original 1n914 diode that was missing from the kit. Thanks Clive. There was also a coil of unknown value:

… and the ICs, which included the brains of the operation – a General Instrument Microelectronics CZL-550:

At this point it was time to fire up the Hakko and start soldering, not before giving the PCB a good hit with the Servisol cleaner spray. I was worried about the tracks lifting while soldering due to heat and old-age, however the PCB held up quite well. The first step is to solder in the clips that hold (just) four AAA cells:

… then the resistors and diodes:

… followed by the transistor, ITT IC, ceramic capacitor and coil:

Uh-oh – that ceramic went in the wrong hole. One leg was soldered where the coil was to sit. Without wanting to damage the PCB, de-soldering it was a slow, slow process. Then of course I didn’t have a ) 3.3nF in stock, so a quick spin to Altronics solved that problem (I bought 50) – one of which finally went in:

The transistor was also a bit of a puzzle, I hadn’t seen that enclosure type and the manual wasn’t much help, so the semiconductor analyser tester solved that problem:

The next step was to fit the display, which is wedged in the large gap at the top of the PCB. The tracks on the PCB are supposed to meet the display, however time had affected the tracks on the display module, so I soldered small wire links across the gaps:

Following the display were the two (new) electrolytics:

And now to the main IC. There wasn’t any second chances with this, and after some very gently pin-bending it dropped in nicely:

After a short break it was time to assemble the keypad, which went smoothly. After cleaning all the foam dust off the buttons, they dropped in to their frame which in turn dropped into the enclosure, followed by the keypad layers:

You can also see in the display window and shroud have been fitted. From here the PCB is inserted:

… and a sticker from years gone by, as well as the metal clip over the bottom of the power switch. At this point a quick test with four AAA cells showed signs of life on the display, so the rear enclosure could be fitted:

Now for the battery and final cover, and it’s ready to go!

The digits are quite sharp, but very small – and set back from the window. This makes photography quite difficult. At the time if your calculator didn’t work, you could send it off to Sinclair and they’d repair or possibly replace it for you:

Using the Cambridge

Well it works, so you have a calculator which is genuinely useful. However the Cambridge has a few quirks, which are attributed to the basic functions of the main IC. For example, when entering numbers the screen is filled with leading zeros until you select a function, however by using the manual you can complete complex work including square roots, percentages, loan repayments and much more.

Furthermore the Cambridge is quite the silent achiever, you can work with numbers as small as 1x10E-20 and up to 9.9999999E79. You simply enter the numbers in decimal form (e.g. 0.000000000123) … even though the display won’t show all the digits, they’re being stored in a register. To then extract the result, you continually multiply or divide by ten (making note of how many times you do that) until the digits appear on the screen. It sounds nuts today – but in 1974 it would have been a cheap way of avoiding a more expensive calculator. In the following video you can see th Cambridge in action, plus the results of dividing by zero:

More about Sinclair

The following video is a BBC dramatisation of the rise of the home computer in the UK market, and the competition between Sir Clive Sinclair (Sinclair) and Adam Curry (Acorn Computers) – which is quite entertaining:

You can find out more about the history of Sir Clive Sinclair here, and the calculator range here. If anyone can connect us with a Science of Cambridge MK14 computer, contact us.

Conclusion

From a 1974 perspective, that would have been a great kit to make, with some love and care it would have been successful. By today’s standards it was quite average – however you can’t really judge it from a 2013 perspective. Nevertheless, kudos to Sir Clive Sinclair for his efforts in knocking out a useful product as a kit. If you’re a collector, and see a sealed unit on ebay or elsewhere, give it a whirl. Just take your time, “think before doing”, and replace as many of the components as possible. I’ve put all the images in full resolution up on flickr, so you can follow along in more detail.

And while you’re here – are you interested in Arduino? Check out my new book “Arduino Workshop” from No Starch Press.

In the meanwhile have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, Google+, subscribe for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column? And join our friendly Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other – and we can all learn something.

Learn how to use MC14489 LED display driver ICs with Arduino in chapter fifty-one of a series originally titled “Getting Started/Moving Forward with Arduino!” by John Boxall – A tutorial on the Arduino universe. The first chapter is here, the complete series is detailed here.

Updated 12/05/2013

Introduction

Recently we’ve been looking at alternatives to the MAX7219 LED display driver IC due to pricing and availability issues (stay tuned for that one) – and came across an old but still quite useful IC – the MC14489 from Motorola (now Freescale Semiconductor). The MC14489 can drive five seven-segment LED numbers with decimal point, or a combination of numbers and separate LEDs. You can also daisy-chain more than one to drive more digits, and it’s controlled with a simple serial data-clock method in the same way as a 74HC595 shift register. Sourcing the MC14489 isn’t too difficult – it’s available from element14, Newark, Digikey, and so on – or if you’re not in a hurry, try the usual suspects like Futurlec.

For the purpose of the tutorial we’ll show you how to send commands easily from your Arduino or compatible board to control a five-digit 7-segment LED display module – and the instructions are quite simple so they should translate easily to other platforms. Once you have mastered the single module, using more than one MC14489 will be just as easy. So let’s get started.

Hardware

Before moving forward, download the data sheet (pdf). You will need to refer to this as you build the circuit(s). And here’s our subject in real life:

For our demonstration display we’ll be using a vintage HP 5082-7415 LED display module. However you can use almost any 7-segment modules as long as they’re common-cathode – for example, Sparkfun part number COM-11405. If you’re using a four-digit module and want an extra digit, you can add another single digit display. If you want a ruler, the design files are here.

Connecting the MC14489 to an LED display isn’t complex at all. From the data sheet consider Figure 9:

Each of the anode control pins from the MC14489 connect to the matching anodes on your display module, and the BANK1~5 pins connect to the matching digit cathode pins on the display module. You can find the MC14489 pin assignments on page 1 of the data sheet. Seeing as this is chapter fifty-one – by now you should be confident with finding such information on the data sheets, so I will be encouraging you to do a little more of the work.

Interesting point – you don’t need current-limiting resistors. However you do need the resistor Rx – this controls the current flow to each LED segment. But which value to use? You need to find out the forward current of your LED display (for example 20 mA) then check Figure 7 on page 7 of the data sheet:

To be conservative I’m using a value of 2k0 for Rx, however you can choose your own based on the data sheet for your display and the graph above. Next – connect the data, clock and enable pins of the MC14489 to three Arduino digital pints – for our example we’re using 5, 6 and 7 for data, clock and enable respectively. Then it’s just 5V and GND to Arduino 5V and GND – and put a 0.1uF capacitor between 5V and GND. Before moving on double-check the connections – especially between the MC14489 and the LED display.

Controlling the MC14489

To control the display we need to send data to two registers in the MC14489 – the configuration register (one byte) and the display register (three bytes). See page 9 of the data sheet for the overview. The MC14489 will understand that if we send out one byte of data it is to send it the configuration register, and if it receives three bytes of data to send it to the display register. To keep things simple we’ll only worry about the first bit (C0) in the configuration register – this turns the display outputs on or off. To do this, use the following:

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digitalWrite(enable,LOW);

shiftOut(data,clock,MSBFIRST,B00000001);// used binary for clarity, however you can use decimal or hexadecimal numbers

digitalWrite(enable,HIGH);

delay(10);

and to turn it off, send bit C0 as zero. The small delay is necessary after each command.

Once you have turned the display on – the next step is to send three bytes of data which represent the numbers to display and decimal points if necessary. Review the table on page 8 of the data sheet. See how they have the binary nibble values for the digits in the third column. Thankfully the nibble for each digit is the binary value for that digit. Furthermore you might want to set the decimal point – that is set using three bits in the first nibble of the three bytes (go back to page 9 and see the display register). Finally you can halve the brightness by setting the very first bit to zero (or one for full brightness).

As an example for that – if you want to display 5.4321 the three bytes of data to send in binary will be:

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110101010100001100100001

Let’s break that down. The first bit is 1 for full brightness, then the next three bits (101) turn on the decimal point for BANK5 (the left-most digit). Then you have five nibbles of data, one for each of the digits from left to right. So there’s binary for 5, then four, then three, then two, then one.

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digitalWrite(enable,LOW);

shiftOut(data,clock,MSBFIRST,B11010101);// D23~D16

shiftOut(data,clock,MSBFIRST,B01000011);// D15~D8

shiftOut(data,clock,MSBFIRST,B00100001);// D7~D0

digitalWrite(enable,HIGH);

delay(10);

To demonstrate everything described so far, it’s been neatly packaged into our first example sketch:

So how does that work? First it splits the 5-digit number into separate digits and stores them in the array numbers[]. It then places the fourth digit into a byte, then moves the data four bits to the left – then we bitwise OR the fifth digit into the same byte. This leaves us with a byte of data containing the nibbles for the fourth and fifth digit. The process is repeated for digits 2 and 3. Finally the brightness bit and decimal point bits are assigned to another byte which then has the first digit’s nibble OR’d into it. Which leaves us with bytes a, b and c ready to send to the MC14489. Note that there isn’t any error-checking – however you could add a test to check that the number to be displayed was within the parameter, and if not either switch off the display (see example 51.1) or throw up all the decimal points or … whatever you want.

You can download the demonstration sketch for the function – Example 51.2, and view the results in the following video:

You can also display the letters A to F by sending the values 10 to 15 respectivel to each digit’s nibble. However that would be part of a larger application, which you can (hopefully) by now work out for yourself. Furthermore there’s some other characters that can be displayed – however trying to display the alphabet using 7-segment displays is somewhat passé. Instead, get some 16-segment LED modules or an LCD.

Finally, you can cascade more than one MC14489 to control more digits. Just run a connection from the data out pin on the first MC14889 to the data pin of the second one, and all the clock and enable lines together. Then send out more data – see page 11 of the data sheet. If you’re going to do that in volume other ICs may be a cheaper option and thus lead you back to the MAX7219.

Conclusion

For a chance find the MC14489 is a fun an inexpensive way to drive those LED digit displays. We haven’t covered every single possible option or feature of the part – however you will now have the core knowledge to go further with the MC14489 if you need to move further with it. And if you enjoy my tutorials, or want to introduce someone else to the interesting world of Arduino – check out my new book “Arduino Workshop” from No Starch Press.

In the meanwhile have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, Google+, subscribe for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column? And join our friendly Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other – and we can all learn something.

In this article we examine a five digit, seven-segment LED display from Hewlett-Packard, the 5082-7415:

According to the data sheet (HP 5082-series.pdf) and other research this was available for a period of time around 1976 and used with other 5082-series modules in other HP products. Such as the Hewlett-Packard 3x series of calculators, for example:

Using the display is very easy – kudos to the engineers at HP for making a simple design that could be reusable in many applications. The 5082-7415 is a common-cathode unit and wiring is very simple – there are the usual eight anodes for segments a~f and the decimal point, and the five cathodes.

As this module isn’t too easily replaceable, I was very conservative with the power supply – feeding just under 1.6V at 10mA to each of the anode pins. A quick test proved very promising:

Excellent – it worked! But now to get it displaying some sort of interesting way. Using the following hardware…

… it was connected in the same method as a four-digit display (except for the extra digit) as described in my tutorial. Don’t forget to use the data sheet (HP 5082-series.pdf). You don’t have to use Arduino – any microcontroller with the appropriate I/O can take care of this.

Here is a simple Arduino sketch that scrolls through the digits with and then without the decimal point:

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// Arduino sketch to demonstrate HP 5082-7415 LED Display unit

// John Boxall, April 2012

intclockPin=6;

intlatchPin=7;

intdataPin=8;

// array for cathodes - sent to second shift register

bytedigits[]={

B10000000,

B01000000,

B00100000,

B00010000,

B00001000,

B11111000};// use digits[6] to turn all on

// array for anodes (to display 0~0) - sent to first shift register

bytenumbers[]={

B11111100,

B01100000,

B11011010,

B11110010,

B01100110,

B10110110,

B10111110,

B11100000,

B11111110,

B11110110};

voidsetup()

{

pinMode(clockPin,OUTPUT);

pinMode(latchPin,OUTPUT);

pinMode(dataPin,OUTPUT);

}

voidloop()

{

inti;

for(i=0;i<10;i++)

{

digitalWrite(latchPin,LOW);

shiftOut(dataPin,clockPin,LSBFIRST,digits[6]);

shiftOut(dataPin,clockPin,LSBFIRST,numbers[i]);

digitalWrite(latchPin,HIGH);

delay(250);

}

// now repeat with decimal point

for(i=0;i<10;i++)

{

digitalWrite(latchPin,LOW);

shiftOut(dataPin,clockPin,LSBFIRST,digits[6]);

shiftOut(dataPin,clockPin,LSBFIRST,numbers[i]+1);

digitalWrite(latchPin,HIGH);

delay(250);

}

}

And the results:

Now for something more useful. Here is a function that sends a single digit to a position on the display with the option of turning the decimal point on or off:

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voiddisplayDigit(intvalue,intposit,booleandecPoint)

// displays integer value at digit position posit with decimal point on/off

{

digitalWrite(latchPin,LOW);

shiftOut(dataPin,clockPin,LSBFIRST,digits[posit]);

if(decPoint==true)

{

shiftOut(dataPin,clockPin,LSBFIRST,numbers[value]+1);

}

else

{

shiftOut(dataPin,clockPin,LSBFIRST,numbers[value]);

}

digitalWrite(latchPin,HIGH);

}

So if you wanted to display the number three in the fourth digit, with the decimal point – use

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displayDigit(3,3,true);

with the following result:

We make use of the displayDigit() function in our next sketch. We introduce a new function:

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displayInteger(number,cycles);

It accepts a long integer between zero and 99999 (number) and displays it on the module for cycles times:

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// Arduino sketch to demonstrate HP 5082-7415 LED Display unit

// Displays numbers on request

// John Boxall, April 2012

intclockPin=6;

intlatchPin=7;

intdataPin=8;

// array for cathodes - sent to second shift register

bytedigits[]={

B10000000,

B01000000,

B00100000,

B00010000,

B00001000,

B11111000};// use digits[6] to turn all on

// array for anodes (to display 0~0) - sent to first shift register

bytenumbers[]={

B11111100,

B01100000,

B11011010,

B11110010,

B01100110,

B10110110,

B10111110,

B11100000,

B11111110,

B11110110};

voidsetup()

{

pinMode(clockPin,OUTPUT);

pinMode(latchPin,OUTPUT);

pinMode(dataPin,OUTPUT);

randomSeed(analogRead(0));

}

voidclearDisplay()

// turns off all digits

{

digitalWrite(latchPin,LOW);

shiftOut(dataPin,clockPin,LSBFIRST,0);

shiftOut(dataPin,clockPin,LSBFIRST,0);

digitalWrite(latchPin,HIGH);

}

voiddisplayDigit(intvalue,intposit,booleandecPoint)

// displays integer value at digit position posit with decimal point on/off

{

digitalWrite(latchPin,LOW);

shiftOut(dataPin,clockPin,LSBFIRST,digits[posit]);

if(decPoint==true)

{

shiftOut(dataPin,clockPin,LSBFIRST,numbers[value]+1);

}

else

{

shiftOut(dataPin,clockPin,LSBFIRST,numbers[value]);

}

digitalWrite(latchPin,HIGH);

}

voiddisplayInteger(longnumber,intcycles)

// displays a number 'number' on the HP display.

{

longi,j,k,l,z;

floatf;

clearDisplay();

for(z=0;z

voidloop()

{

longl2;

l2=random(0,100001);

displayInteger(l2,400);

}

For demonstration purposes the sketch displays random numbers, as shown in the video below:

Have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, Google+, subscribe for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our forum – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website.

Time to finish off the month with a fascinating kit review – the ogi lumen nixie tube system. The younger readers amongst us may be thinking “what is a nixie tube?” Here is an example of four in a row:

If you cast your mind back to before the time of LCDs, and before LEDs… to the mid-1950s. Nixie tubes were used to display data in various forms on electrical devices, from test equipment, scales, elevator indicators, possible doomsday machines, clocks – anything that required visual output would be a candidate. Although nixie tubes are now totally out of date, as with many things there is a growing trend to use them again, for cool retro-style, nostalgia and those people who enjoy living in the past.

How nixie tubes work is quite simple, an element is within a vacuum tube full of gas, such as neon. When a high-voltage (~190 volts DC) current flows through the element, it glows. For more information, here is a great explanation. You will note that they are similar to in look but different in design to the vacuum-fluorescent displays, as used in the ice tube clock reviewed a few months previously. The tubes used in this kit are the Soviet model IN-12A:

The IN-12A tube can display the digits zero to nine, with a nice orange glow. For the uninitiated, sourcing and making nixie tubes can be quite difficult. Apart from procuring the tubes themselves, you need a suitable power supply and logic ICs that can handle the higher voltage to control the tubes. Thankfully Ogi Lumen have put together a system of kits to make using these nixie tubes simple and interesting. There are three components to the system, the first being the power supply:

Note that the power supply is preassembled. This supply can generate the necessary 150 to 220 volts DC to energise our nixie tubes. Yes – up to 220 volts! For example:

However the current required is quite small – one power supply can handle up to twenty-four IN12A nixie tubes. My example in the photograph above is drawing 110~120 milliamps from a 12V DC supply. For those of you assembling these kits, please be careful. It can be easy to physically move the kit about whilst in operation, and touching the live HV pads will hurt a lot. After bumping the HV line on the PCB, my whole left arm went into a spasm and hurt for the time it took to see my doctor. So be careful.

The second item required is the driver kit. This is a board that takes care of the shift-registers and power for two of the nixie tubes. Driver kits can be slotted together to form a row of nixie tubes. The third and final item is the nixie duo kit. This contains two IN-12A tubes, matching sockets and a PCB to muont them. This PCB then slots into the driver kit PCB. You can buy the driver and duo kit as a set for a discount.

From a hardware perspective, assembling the kits is relatively simple. There isn’t any tricky soldering or SMD to worry about, however you will need a lot of solder. The contents of the duo and driver kits are as follows:

Before you start soldering, please download and take note of the instructional .pdf files available for the duo and driver board kits. Assembling the driver kit (on the right) is very straight forward. However – please read the instructions! An interesting part of note is the K155ИД1IC:

This is the Russian equivalent of the 74141. This is a BCD-decimal decoder IC that can handle the high voltages required for nixie tubes. When soldering the resistors, take care with R2 – it will need to be positioned horizontally so as to not rub against the duo board:

When it is time to assemble the duo board, you will need time and patience. At a first glance, one would imagine that the sockets drop into the PCB, and the nixie tubes will happily be seated into the sockets. This is not so, don’t solder in the sockets first! The pins on the bottom of the socket also form part of the socket for the tube legs – which can alter the positioning of the socket legs. Make sure you have the socket with pin 1 at the top of the PCB. After some trial and error, the best way to insert the tubes is to first partially place the sockets into the PCB:

… then fully insert the tubes into their sockets. Make sure the tube is the right way up – check that the digit 3 in the tube is the right way up. Then push the whole lot into the PCB. At this point you should check to make sure the sockets are in line with each other:

(Notice how thick the PCB is…) At which point you can solder them in, followed by the row of connector pins:

By this stage you will need some fresh air from all that soldering. The PCB holes for the socket pins really take a lot. Now you can connect the power supply to the driver board and give the tubes a test-toast:

All the tubes should have their elements glowing. This is a good start. The next step is to connect the appropriate microcontroller and start displaying. As noted in the instructions, the 74141 BCD-decimal ICs are controlled by standard 74HC595 shift-register ICs, so your microcontroller needs to send out a data, clock and latch line. My following examples have been created using the Ardiuno system and a compatible board.

The first example is a method of displaying integers. It uses the Nixie library which you can download here.

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// Nixie tube demonstration code - function to display an integer

// Modifed sketch originally created by Lionel Haims, July 25, 2008. Released into the public domain.

// include the library

#include <Nixie.h>

// note the digital pins of the arduino that are connected to the nixie driver

#define dataPin 2 // data line or SER

#define clockPin 3 // clock pin or SCK

#define latchPin 4 // latch pin or RCK

// note the number of digits (nixie tubes) you have (buy more, you need more!)

#define numDigits 4

intnarray[numDigits];// holds the digits to display

intz=0;

// Create the Nixie object

// pass in the pin numbers in the correct order

Nixienixie(dataPin,clockPin,latchPin);

voidsetup()

{

nixie.clear(numDigits);// clear display

}

voidnixNum(intz)

// displays integer 'z' on 4-digit nixie display

// keeps leading zero, as blank still flickers somewhat

{

narray[0]=int(z/1000);// thousands value

z=z-(narray[0]*1000);

narray[1]=int(z/100);// hundreds value

z=z-(narray[1]*100);

narray[2]=int(z/10);// tens value

narray[3]=z-(narray[2]*10);// ones value

nixie.writeArray(narray,numDigits);

}

voidloop()

{

nixNum(1234);

delay(2000);

for(intq=1234;q<10000;q++)

{

nixNum(q);

delay(100);

}

}

That was just an arbitrary demonstration to get some numbers displayed. Here is a short video clip of it in action:

Now for another, more useful example. By using a DS1307 real-time clock IC with the Arduino, we can make a nice clock that displays the time and date. For more information on using the DS1307 with Arduino, please visit this tutorial. You can download the example nixie clock .pde file from here. And finally, here is the clock in action:

The problem with these tubes is that you will never have enough. Already I have thought of a few things to make that require a lot more tubes, so in the next month or so stay tuned to tronixstuff.com as there will be more projects with these kits.

In conclusion, this was a great kit and anyone looking to use some numerical nixie tubes will do very well with the Ogi Lumenproducts. Furthermore the designs are released under Creative Commons by-sa-nc, and the files are available to download from the product pages. And finally, it is a lot of fun – people will generally ask you about the tubes as they may have never seen them before.

Remember, if you have any questions about these modules please contact Ogi Lumen via their website. Higher resolution images available on flickr.

Have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, Google+, subscribe for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other – and we can all learn something.

[Note – the kit assembled in this article was received from Ogi Lumen for review purposes]

Today we examine a kit that perhaps transcends from general electronic fun and games into the world of modern art – the adafruit “Ice Tube” clock.

What is an Ice Tube clock? Before LCDs (liquid-crystal displays) were prevalent another form of display technology was popular – the vacuum-fluorescent display (or VFD). This clock uses a VFD originally manufactured in the former Soviet Union (link for the kids) or Russia (I think mine is date-stamped January 1993). This particular VFD contains a series of seven-segment digits and a dot, which allow the display of time in a bright and retro fashion.

Since this kit was released I had always desired one, however my general parsimonious traits and the wavering exchange rate against the US dollar kept my spending in check. But lately my wallet was hit by a perfect storm: the Australian dollar hit parity with the greenback, adafruit had a discount code and I felt like spending some money – so before the strange feelings passed I ordered a kit post-haste.

Sixteen slow, hot days later the box arrived. I must admit to enjoying a good parcel-opening:

As always, the packaging was excellent and everything arrived as it should have. But what was everything?

Included is the anti-static bag containing the PCB and general components, a bag with the laser-cut acrylic pieces to assemble the housing, another bag with the housing fasteners and the back-up coin cell for the clock, a mains adaptor, and finally another solid cardboard box containing the classic display unit – albeit with the following sensible warning:

And finally the Russian IV-18 display tube:

The tube is a fascinating piece of work, certainly a piece of perfect retro-technology and a welcome addition to my household. Assembling the clock will not be a fast process, and in doing so I recommend reviewing the detailed instructions several times over at the adafruit website. Furthermore, it is a good idea to identify, measure and line up the components ready for use, to save time and confusion along the way. Your experience may vary, however this kit took around three hours for me to construct.

Normally with most kits you can just solder the components in any order, however it is recommended you follow the instructions, as they are well written and allow for testing along the way. For example, after installing the power regulator, you can check the output:

At this stage, you can test your progress with the piezo beeping at power-on:

These mid-construction tests are a good idea as you can hopefully locate any problems before things get out of hand. Another item to be careful with is the PLCC socket for the Maxim MAX6921 VFD driver IC (second from the left):

However with time and patience there is no reason why you would have any problems. Once the main PCB is completed, the next item is the end PCB which connects to the VFD:

At this point it is a good time to have a break and a bit of a stretch, as you need all your patience for soldering in the VFD. Before attempting to do so, try and carefully straighten all the wires from the VFD so they are parallel with each other. Then using the adafruit instructions, make sure you have the tube wires lined up with the correct hole on the PCB:

After I had the leads through the correct holes on the PCB, trimming the leads made things easier:

It is also a good idea to check the gap between the VFD and the PCB is correct, by checking the fit within the housing:

And after much patience, wire pulling with pliers, and light soldering – the VFD was married to the PCB:

So now the difficult soldering work has been completed and now it was time for another test – the big one… does it all work?

Yes, yes it does. *phew* The low brightness is normal, as that is the default level set by the software. Please note: if you run your VFD without an enclosure that you must be careful of the high voltages on the right-hand side of the PCB and also the VFD PCB. If you test your VFD in this manner, don’t forget to allow ten minutes for the voltage to return to a safe level after removing the power supply. If you have been following the instructions (I hope so!) there is some more soldering to do, after which you can put away your soldering iron.

Now to remove the liner from the acrylic housing pieces and put it all together. Be very careful not to over-tighten the bolts otherwise you will shatter the housing pieces and be cranky. If all is well, you’re finished clock will appear as such:

The clock in use:

And finally, our ubiquitous video demonstration:

VFDs can lose their brightness over the years, and can be difficult to replace – so if you want many, many years of retro-time it would be smart to buy an extra tube from adafruit with your kit, or a modified DeLorean.

Overall, this was an interesting and satisfying kit to assemble. Not for the beginner, but if you have built a few easier kits such as the “TV-B-Gone” with success, the Ice Tube clock will be within your reach. Furthermore, due to the clear housing, this kit is a good demonstration of your soldering and assembly skills. High resolution images are available on flickr.

You can purchase the kit directly from adafruit industries. As always, thank you for reading and I look forward to your comments and so on. Furthermore, don’t be shy in pointing out errors or places that could use improvement. Please subscribe using one of the methods at the top-right of this web page to receive updates on new posts. Or join our Google Group.

[Note – The kit was purchased by myself personally and reviewed without notifying the manufacturer or retailer]